Hansel's Bear (Erotic Shifter Fairy Tale) (23 page)

“
Yes. But, we only need
two teams,” he informed them.

“
Why only two?” Dainton
frowned as he looked from one trailer to the next.

“
Because at this time, all
three men will be in Bart’s trailer counting up the funds turned in
at the entrance, games and concessions. They’ll work until around
midnight to divide up the money for pay in the morning and secure
the majority of it in the safe built into Bart’s
trailer.”

“
So, one team to go with
you and the other to the animal tent?” Dainton
clarified.

“
Dainton and Rorke with
me. Gordon, if you and Theo can take care of the rescue with
everyone else I’d appreciate it.” Hansel directed.

“
We’re on it, on your go,”
Theo declared.

Gordon nodded.

Hansel felt his body tighten, and his
bear clawing at him to get out. However he reined him in for now.
“Let’s do this.”

They split. The group of twelve male
and female Weres that came with them from Den moved silently toward
the animal tent as he and his two friends hustled toward the green
trailer. After the carnival was closed down for the night, all the
lights were turned off leaving the area cloaked in darkness. This
was perfect to keep their movement hidden in the
shadows.

Most of the workers were
in the worker tent where they would eat and drink the night away.
Already he could hear the distance grumblings, swearing and
laughter from the group he remembered becoming extremely loud as
the night wore on. Even though most of the people that worked the
freak show hated the three men in charge, it was their livelihood,
so Hansel wanted to make this all happen quickly. So, they could
keep from having to harm anyone that felt
obligated
to step in to
assist.

Outside the trailer door they stopped,
listened.

“
That motherfucker
operating the ring toss better not be cheatin’ us. Look at this
damn total he brought in.” That high pitched, nasally whine Hansel
recognized as Bart’s.

“
I’ll make his ass take an
assistant. We send someone to keep a count of what is coming in,
make sure things is on the up and up.” Jackal’s gravelly voice rang
out.

“
If he’s pocketin’ cash
money, I’ll get it out of him. Put his ass in Simba’s cage.” Damian
cackled, deep and rough. “Show the rest of ‘em, don’t be shittin’
around with our funds.”

“
That would be a show
these small town folks would pay to see.” Jackal, always
considering the next big event spoke. “Maybe it’s something we can
think about adding to the show schedule.”

Their harsh, loud laughter vibrated
the walls of the trailer.

Hansel’s jaw flexed as he tightened
his grip on the door handle and gave a sharp nod to Dainton and
Rorke. Ripping the door open, Hansel vaulted up the stairs, then
entered the trailer.

“
What the fuck!” Jackal
rose.

Bart started raking all the dollars
and coins across the table toward him and shoving fistfuls of it
down his shirt.

“
Your fuckin’ asses better
not be thinkin’ of robbin’ us.” Damian pulled his ever-present whip
off his hip.

Hansel could practically see the
trainer’s mind processing how he could fight off not just one big
male, but three. Hansel knew all three of them made an impressive
sight as their height and size filled up the trailer.

“
Oh, that’s not why I’m
here.” Hansel allowed his red, hazed gaze to roam from one male to
the other.

“
Why don’t you tell us,
who the fuck you are then get the hell out.” Jackal stepped
forward, still dressed in his white ruffled shirt and black pants.
Only thing he’d taken off was the red and gold embroidered coat,
which was draped over the back of the chair he’d
vacated.

“
I’m sure you all wouldn’t
know my name if I told you, because I’m a little different than the
last time you saw me.”

Damian scowled and stared at him,
attempting to place his face.

“
Did you used to work for
us?” Bart asked, still trying to hide the money. “You thinkin’ we
owe you money?”

“
If that’s it…I don’t give
back pay.” Jackal declared, shifting his gaze from Hansel to the
two males behind him.

“
Oh, I’m here for pay, but
I plan to claim it from you guys’ hide.”

“
The fuck if you will.”
Damian released the whip with a snap.

Dainton and Rorke growled behind
him.

Hansel took a step forward, his fists
balled. He couldn’t wait for the moment he would take that braided
leather and wrap it around the trainer’s throat.

“
Hold on a second, gents.
Can before it gets hairy in here. Can I know my charges?” Jackal
smirked.

Without taking his gaze off Damian,
Hansel spoke. “As many animals as you all capture and snatch away,
I’m sure my story isn’t any different. It wouldn’t stand out to
you. But, just in case you recall the cub you picked up in Yosemite
after shooting a male and female bear…that would be me.”

“
What?” Bart
squeaked.

“
That’s impossible,”
Jackal declared as if his words were the end all to be all of life.
“You can’t be Douglas the Dancing Bear.”

Hansel fucking hated that
moniker.

“
That shit ain’t even
possible,” Damian sneered, then rolled his bottom lip and licked
it.

A tick Hansel was familiar with. It
usually came before he threw his whip or shoved his iron poker into
the back of an animal.

“
I don’t know what fuckin’
game ya’ll runnin’, but it ends here.” Damian popped his
whip.

Hansel grabbed the tail of it,
ignoring the sting of the tail striking his forearm as he launched
himself at the trainer. As his fist connected with Damian’s jaw, he
heard the telltale sound of fabric ripping, then an ear-piercing
roar—one of his friend had shifted.

Bart screamed and leaped away from the
table to run into the back, most likely trying to hide.

Exchanging one punch after another
with Damian, who fought back maliciously, Hansel glimpsed Rorke out
of the corner of his eye leaping across the short card table after
Bart. Answering the question who had shifted—Dainton.

He couldn’t concern himself with the
fights going on around him, battling Damian would take all of his
attention. The man may not be as big as he was now, but Damian was
evil to the core and that made him fight dirty and
lethal.

Taking the return punch Damian landed
against his jaw, Hansel easily recovered, barely feeling a sting
and kicked the man in the chest. Damian went sailing back, striking
his side against a chest along the side of the trailer.

“
Ah, you son of a bitch.”
Damian gripped his side and kept his body bent over.

When Hansel went to him to finish him
off, he found himself leaping out of the way of a knife Damian had
pulled out. Hansel was grateful for fast reflexes as he avoided
every slash the trainer made through the air toward him.

Damian struggled to his feet and
advanced on him with a fierce downward swipe. A move that, if
Hansel hadn’t countered it, would have sliced his chest open
diagonally. But, Hansel waited for that perfect moment. As Damian’s
hand came out and across him through a hard left at his forearm. He
wasn’t sure which was louder, the sound of the bone breaking, the
trainer’s blood curdling scream or the clattering of the knife to
the hard floor.

After Damian dropped to his knees
grunting and holding his awkwardly bent arms, Hansel picked up the
whip and moved behind the vile man.

“
This is for my
stepmother, not a bitch.” He wound the length over and over again
around Damian’s neck as he spoke. “My father, a great male. For my
unborn sister.” Hansel pulled the ends tight. “And Greta, the small
female bear you injured in your trap.”

Hansel’s body trembled with rage he’d
held pent up for years. He clutched the leather so tightly his
hands burned, but he didn’t care. Everything around him was painted
a dark red in his sight. It appeared as if blood coated the
trailer.

Damian was purple and swollen as he
made gagging sounds as he grabbed and clawed at his own throat,
attempting to remove the choker.

“
Hansel, stop.” Someone
spoke to him in a strong but calm voice.

However, he still pulled on the whip,
his biceps flexing, blugging. “Damian deserves to die like so many
other Weres and animals this sadistic man has killed
mercilessly.”

“
He does.” Dainton stepped
before him, not touching him or helping Damian. “But, do you want
that to be by your hands?”

“
Yes!” Hansel wanted to
recall this moment for the rest of his life knowing that Damian
would not harm anyone else.

“
No you don’t, Hansel.”
Rorke stood beside Hansel and placed a steady firm hand on his
shoulder. “That would make you just like him. A murderer. You’re
not a murderer.”

“
He kille—” Hansel’s voice
broke as the emotions of anger and sadness waged within him. “My
family and hurt Greta.”

Damian’s body was starting to twitch
and buck, as the man fought for the last grips of life.

“
He will get his due one
day. Just don’t let it him taint the rest of your life with his
evil and cruelty,” Dainton declared. “Let him go,
Hansel.”

His jaw flexed as he looked from one
friend’s calm, determined features to the next. What they said was
true. If he were a lone Were still he would only have himself to
deal with, but going back to Greta he would have to tell her about
the death and she already wanted him to walk away from the
vengeance. He didn’t want to imagine how she would feel about him
taking someone’s life. Even someone that deserved to lose
it.

He released the ends of the whip and
shoved Damian forward and out of his way.

With his last shreds of life, the
trainer coughed as he hastened to remove his own weapon of cruelty
from around his neck.

The room went from blood red to a pale
pink as Hansel’s fighting haze began to clear. He glanced around
and saw Jackal against one wall, beaten and battered and gripping
his stomach as he coughed up blood.

Hansel looked at Rorke.

Rorke shrugged. “He’s not
dead.”

Glancing around, he looked for Bart,
but didn’t see him. He headed toward the back of the
trailer.

“
Where are you going,
Hansel?” Rorke grabbed his arm.

“
Looking for
Bart.”

“
I didn’t kill him
either.” Dainton declared.

Chuckling, Hansel shook his head. “I
didn’t think you did. I need to ensure one last thing before I
go.”

Rorke let him go.

Continuing around the overturned table
and the floor that was littered with money and debris, Hansel
passed the single bathroom and walked the short hall until he got
to the small bedroom. That’s where he found Bart, half under the
bed face down. Hansel noticed that the bottom half of one pant leg
was ripped and there was blood dripping from teeth marks in the
banker’s calf.

Gripping the man by the belt of his
jeans, he dragged him out.

Bart groaned and whimpered.

Ignoring his sounds of fear and pain,
Hansel turned him over and saw the claw marks over the man’s
shoulder.

The carny accountant’s face was
twisted in agony, but he kept his eyes squeezed shut as if he
feared seeing something else coming his way.

With the man’s shirt in shreds it made
it easy for Hansel to find what he searched for. Reaching out, he
grabbed the safe key away from the rivers of blood streaming from
the cuts. Snatching the thick chain hard, Hansel smiled at the
sound of it snapping.

Opening his eyes, Bart made a feeble
attempt at reaching for the key with his good arm. “No…wait. My
money!”

Hansel kept it away and rose to his
feet. “You’re the cheat and the thief, Bart. You’ve just as much
blood and debt on your hands as Damian and Jackal.”

Disregarding the man’s pleading,
Hansel went back to the front. Rorke and Dainton, now dressed in
black custom pants that he’d removed from Jackal, stood like twin
pillars by the door.

“
Let’s go.”

They all filed out of the
trailer.

The workers were gathered in a large
crowd outside of the trailer. Most likely hearing the commotion and
waiting to see what was going on. However, just as Hansel figured,
none of them cared enough about the owners to enter the trailer and
intervene.

“
Hey, what going on?” An
old man, who looked relatively familiar, stepped forward from the
pack of people.

If he wasn’t mistaken this man had
snuck the animals treats on occasion when he mucked out the stalls.
“Seymour…right?”

He rubbed his hands down his filthy
jeans. “Uh, yeah.”

Tossing him the key, Hansel said,
“That’s to the safe. Take everyone inside and get all you’ve been
due over the years. Don’t leave a penny behind.”